Carbon nanotubes are resilient materials that are noted for their incredible strength and flexibility. However, carbon nanotubes are small (e.g., having a width on the order of nanometers), which makes it hard to harness their properties in products that are implemented on larger scales such as the meter scale. For example, carbon nanotubes may be bundled into large sheets/mats that use a binder to hold the nanotubes together. The strength of these mats is dependent upon the strength of the binder holding the nanotubes together.
Since carbon nanotubes continue to exhibit extraordinary strength and other desirable properties, it remains desirable to develop materials that are capable of exhibiting a similar strength on the macroscopic level.